All the Performances are Sold Out

We welcome you back to our seasonal performances of classical Japanese Kyogen plays in English at NOHSpace! Featuring our wonderful ensemble members, this Winter's program includes Fukuro Yamabushi (The Owl Mountain Priest) and Act II of Volpone, a new Kyogen adaptation.

Director: Lluís Valls

Assistant Director: Fenner Merlick

Performers: Anqi Cao, Sheila Devitt, Nick Ishimaru, Meryn MacDougall, Ryan Marchand, Fenner Merlick, Kate Patrick, and Lluís Valls

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Program

Fukuro Yamabushi (The Owl Mountain Priest): An Older Brother visits a holy Yamabushi, an ascetic monk who lives in the mountains to request incantations for his Younger Brother who has been acting strangely. The Yamabushi agrees and discovers the Younger Brother is possessed by an evil spirit, but he boasts that he can easily break the spell with his own occult powers. Things don’t quite pan out the way the Yamabushi intends.

Cast: Kate Patrick (Yamabushi), Meryn McDougall (Older Brother), Anqi Cao (Younger Brother), Fenner Merlick (Koken)

Act II of Ben Jonson's Volpone, a new Kyogen adaptation by Lluís Valls: Volpone (The Fox) is a Venetian gentleman who pretends to be on his deathbed after a long illness in order to dupe Voltore (The Vulture), Corbaccio (The Raven) and Corvino (The Crow), three men who aspire to inherit his fortune. Previously, each of them visited Volpone's house bearing a luxurious gift, intent upon having his name inscribed to the will of Volpone, as his heir. Mosca (The Fly), Volpone's parasite servant, continues manipulating each man who believes that he has been named heir to Volpone's fortune. This is Act II of a longer adaptation in development. The adaptation was originally conceived by Jubilith Moore.

Cast: Ryan Marchand (Volpone), Nick Ishimaru (Mosca), Lluís Valls (Voltore), Meryn MacDougall (Corbaccio), Kate Patrick (Corvino), Fenner Merlick (Bonario), Sheila Devitt (Celia)

All the Performances are Sold Out

General Admission $28 (Regular) / $18 (Community)

Please read NOHSpace's Health and Safety Protocols

Read about the event in Japanese on BaySpo Newspaper / 日本語でのイベント案内はこちらをクリック！

Artists

ANQI CAO (Apprentice)’s artistic journey straddles the East and West, as she interweaves a spectrum of cross-cultural arts. Her experience involves delivering laughter through improv comedy across China and the US, embodying the elegance of Nihon Buyo under the guidance of Mariko Ohno sensei at Kabuki Academy, as well as harnessing the power of role-play to promote self-growth as a psycho-drama coach. In her spare time, she loves writing bilingual poetry and exploring Taiwanese glove puppetry translations, which marries the introspection of Eastern philosophy with the boldness of Western verse. At Theatre of Yugen, Anqi finds her multifaceted creativity reflected in Yugen's pioneering vision, reinterpreting the intricate poetry and timeless stories of Classical Japanese Nohgaku into innovative, global expressions.

SHEILA DEVITT is a San Francisco-based theatre artist, and joined the Yugen company for her apprenticeship with Jubilith Moore in 2010. She has trained with Fujii-sensei, (Hosho Noh Theatre, Tokyo) and performed for their school recital in 2013; and Kinue Oshima sensei (Kita school), at the Noh Training Project 2019 with Theatre Nohgaku. Theatre of Yugen credits include multiple Kyogen performances at Matsuri festivals around the Bay Area; Sorya! A Minor Cycle; Emmett Till: A River; and the world premiere of This Lingering Life. Sheila has been an ensemble member with the found-object puppetry company Lunatique Fantastique (E.O. 9066, Beauty and the Breast, The Wrapping Paper Caper); and a founding company member with Bacchus Players @ Coppola Winery (Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Other regional credits include Marin Shakespeare Co., African American Shakespeare Co., Brava! for Women in the Arts, Town Hall Theatre Co., Ross Valley Players, Cinnabar Theatre, and more. Sheila received a certificate in Stanislavsky studies from the Moscow Art Theatre School at Harvard; BFA - University of New Mexico, focus on bilingual performances of Federico Garcia Lorca’s pastoral trilogy. Sheila served as Lead House Manager at the San Francisco Playhouse; co-producer of the 2020 Bay Area Women’s Theatre Festival; regional coordinator of the StateraArts mentorship program: to uplift, amplify and advance women in the arts. During the pandemic closures, she participated in an online actors reading group that performed the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. She was honored to join the Actors Reading Collective for Mother Road by Octavio Solis. She is currently the Marketing & Engagement Manager for Golden Thread Productions. Thanks & gratitude to family, for the love & support that make this work possible; and to You, the audience, who make the performance complete.

NICK ISHIMARU has served as the Artistic Director at Theatre of Yugen between 2016 and 2019. His work explores a combination of Western and traditional Asian performance techniques for original creations, along with work in conventional musical theatre and Shakespeare. He has trained in noh and kyōgen with Theatre of Yugen for over seven years. Ishimaru has also studied kabuki, jingju (Beijing Opera), and nihon buyo (traditional Japanese dance). He received a BA in Performing Arts from Colorado State University (2005), where he directed a kabuki adaptation of Macbeth, and a Masters in Drama from San Francisco State University (2009). During his time as Artistic Director of Theatre of Yugen, he has directed several productions including The Red Demon (2016), A Noh Christmas Carol (2017, 2018, 2019), and Seen/By Everyone (2018). Ishimaru has appeared in numerous performances with Theatre of Yugen, both in San Francisco around the world, including Minor Cycle (2012), This Lingering Life (2014) and Mystical Abyss (Denver 2015), Yugen in Action (Iquique, Chile, 2019) and a plethora of kyōgen performances. He was most recently on stage in Puppets & Poe and Yugen-no-Kai: Aki.

MERYN MACDOUGALL is a Bay Area artist. Meryn works in Theatre and Film as an actor, director, and fight director. She has had the joy of working with Theatre of Yugen for the last 6 years. She would like to thank Lluis and the Yugen Community for all the wonderful opportunities and training they have provided. Look for her next project UN/FILTERED an independent film coming to film festivals spring of 2024.

RYAN MARCHAND began performing with Theater of Yugen in 2009. A Los Angeles native, he moved to the Bay Area to attend San Francisco State University, where he first trained in Noh and Kyogen. As a theater maker, he has worked with a variety of companies including Crowded Fire, Shotgun Players, African American Shakespeare Company, Bindelstiff Studios, Kunoichi Productions, and Playwright’s Foundation. Ryan is the current Director of San Francisco Opera’s Department of Diversity, Equity and Community.

FENNER MERLICK is a performing and teaching artist in the Bay Area. Pedagogically rooted in Kyogen and Noh theater, clown, and bouffon, viewpoints, suzuki, butoh, and viewpoints. They studied Theater at UC Berkeley, trained at Dell Arte International, and are a company member of Theatre of Yugen and Kismet Arts Tangent. They have performed with Cutting Ball, Custom Made, foolsFury, Ragged Wing Ensemble, Liar Liar Theater, PACE Gallery in Menlo Park, and won Best of the SF Fringe in 2013 and 2022 for collaboratively created shows. In 2022 they were awarded an excellence in theater award by the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.

KATE PATRICK, currently based in San Francisco, has been an ensemble member with Theatre of Yugen since 2019. Most recently she has appeared as the Crab Spirit in Kani Yamabushi, the Master in Busu, and Corvino in last year's adaptation of Volpone, Act I. This fall she is excited to reprise her role for Volpone, Act II as well as design and build special costume pieces for this production. She has also done costume work for various local theaters including San Francisco Opera, Actors Ensemble of Berkeley and New Conservatory Theatre Center. Previous experience in traditional Japanese theater includes her role as the second Yamabushi in University of Hawai’i, Mānoa’s 2016 production of a new kyogen play, Futari Yamabushi, and a 2017-18 Fulbright Research Grant to study traditional ji-kabuki costumes and practices under Sachie Oguri at the Museum Nakasendou and Aioi-za Theater in Mizunami, Japan. While there she performed in two kabuki classics, Sodehagi Saimon as Hachiman Taro Yoshiie, and Fuji Musume. Kate has an MFA in Costume Design from University of Hawai’i, Mānoa.

LLUIS VALLS acts, directs, and writes for the theatre. He has studied Noh with Richard Emmert, Akira Matsui, and Kinue Oshima (Kita school), Kyogen with Yukio Ishida and Yuriko Doi (Izumi school), and Kotsuzumi Noh drum with Mitsuo Kama (Ko school), as well as training in butoh, Suzuki method, and clowning. A graduate of SFSU, Mr. Valls has been a disciple of founder Yuriko Doi since 1993 and served as Theatre of Yugen’s Joint Artistic Director with Jubilith Moore and Libby Zilber from 2002 - 2008. He has worked on dozens of productions at Theatre of Yugen, including Blood Wine, Blood Wedding, (1997), Norton, I (2003), Frankenstein (2003, 2004), The Old Man and The Sea (2005), Moon of the Scarlet Plums (2003, Japan 2005), The Cycle Plays (07/07/07), Mystical Abyss (2012, Denver 2015), Erik Ehn’s Cordelia (2011, NY's La MAMA 2012), Emmett Till, a river (2013), This Lingering Life (2014), and The Red Demon (2016).